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Melting Pot could be the most well-realized of allthe albums by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a smoothand soulful, yet expansive 35 minutes of alloriginals, the latter in sharp contrast to theirexploration of the Beatles' Abbey Road albummaterial on their preceding album. And the ironywas that it was their swan song. Booker T. Jones,in particular, was increasingly unhappy working atStax/Volt Records, owing his feelings tomanagement and structural changes at thecompany, and also felt the need to change thegroup's formula somewhat. Steve Cropper wasplaying lots of session work that was keeping himfrom recording in Memphis as well, and the resultwas an album recorded mostly in New York City,far away from Stax/Volt and largely built on thegroup's (especially Jones') best impulses. Thatsaid, Melting Pot managed to be a sort of back-to-the-roots effort in the sense that they wereback to doing originals, but was also a strikinglymore expansive record, with Jones in particularplaying with an almost demonic intensity andrange, backed ably by Donald "Duck" Dunn'srocksteady bass in particular. There were a fewother touches, such as the wordless chorus on"Kinda Easy Like" and extended running times,showing the group stretching out on much largermusical canvases. - Bruce Eder, AllMusicGuide